Egmond Abbey or St. Adalbert's Abbey (Dutch : Abdij van Egmond, Sint-Adelbertabdij) is a Benedictine monastery of the Congregation of the Annunciation, situated in Egmond-Binnen, in the municipality of Bergen, in the Dutch province of North Holland. Founded in 920-925, and destroyed during the Reformation, it was re-founded in 1935 as the present Sint-Adelbertabdij, in the Diocese of Haarlem.
Egmond was the oldest monastery of the Holland region. According to tradition, the Benedictine abbey was founded by Dirk I, Count of Holland, in about 920-925. It was a nunnery erected near a small wooden church built over the grave of Saint Adalbert. In about 950 work began on a stone church to replace the wooden one, as a gift from Dirk II, Count of Holland, and his wife Hildegard, to house the relics of Saint Adalbert. The consecration of the new church apparently took place in or shortly after 975, and is recorded in the Egmond Gospels, presented to the abbey by Dirk. At the same time a community of Benedictine monks from Saint Peter's Abbey, Ghent replaced the nuns, who under their abbess Erlinde, daughter of Count Dirk, were transferred to a newly established nunnery, Bennebroek Abbey. [1]
The abbey had many property and feudal rights. Its library and scriptorium were very important. Monks served as scribes in the ducal chancery. [1] Dirk I, the founder, was buried there, as were many subsequent counts of Holland and members of their families, including Dirk II, Arnulf, Dirk III, Floris I, Dirk V, and Floris II. Egbert, the son of Dirk II, was educated at Egmond and later became Archbishop of Trier. [2]
Count Lamoral, owner of the nearby castle, was beheaded in 1568 in Brussels by the Spanish regime, and this started the Dutch Revolt. Shortly afterwards, in 1573, the abbey was dissolved and laid waste, just before the Spanish siege of Alkmaar, on the orders of Diederik Sonoy, to prevent it being used by the Spanish. The abbey's income was diverted by the stadtholder to the financing of his educational project, the newly formed Leiden University.
North of the abbey is the site of Egmond Castle in Egmond aan den Hoef. The castle was built by the knight Berwout van Egmond in 1129, who was paid by the Count of Holland to represent him, protect the abbey and collect the rents, as Voogd . This was the origin of the House of Egmond. The relationship quickly turned into a power struggle between the Egmond family and the abbots that lasted for centuries. Just like the abbey, the castle was destroyed in 1573. The chapel was later restored by the Dutch Protestant church, but the castle was never rebuilt. The foundations are still visible and the land surrounding the old moat and foundations has been turned into a park.
In 1933 a new Benedictine community, the Sint-Adelbertabdij, was founded on the site of the former Egmond Abbey, and was again dedicated to Saint Adalbert. The first buildings, designed by Alexander Kropholler (nl) were constructed in 1935. [3] and the community was repopulated with monks (from the Benedictine abbey in Oosterhout). Buildings were refurbished and extended in the late 1940s and early 1950s; the monastery was elevated to an abbey in 1950. [4] The farmlands were put back to use, though since 1989 however the agricultural lands have been let to a farmer. Candle-making started in 1945, to support the community, and later a pottery workplace was added. [4]
In 1984 the relics of Saint Adalbert were returned here, having been kept safe in Haarlem since the destruction of the medieval monastery in the 16th century, and are enshrined beneath the altar.
In the spring of 2003 the monks had solar panels installed which were promptly stolen two weeks later, a loss of €20,000. An online fundraising was organized to help pay for new panels. [5] [6]
In December 2021, the Abbey donated a relic of Saint Nicholas to the Basilica of Saint Nicholas in Amsterdam. Said to be a fragment of the saint's rib, the bone had been in the custody of the Abbey since 1087. [7]
Their abbey shop sells locally produced cheese and beer from Brouwerij Egmond, which is produced under the name Sancti Adalberti.
Many artefacts from the old abbey have been recovered in the years since the 'beeldenstorm' of 1568, such as the altarpiece of 1530, and the Egmond Tympanum, a 12th-century tympanum originally set over the portal of the west front of the abbey church, which since 1842 has been preserved in the Rijksmuseum. At first it was assumed that all the abbey's possessions had been burned, but in fact they had been sold by the Protestant leader who dissolved the abbey, Diederik Sonoy, before the buildings were destroyed. In recent decades the current monastery has been able to recover many lost relics, or to obtain information about their whereabouts. The old abbey had been of great importance to artists, and much of that art has survived, against all odds.
Moreover, in the intervening period from 1568 until the remaining ruins were finally demolished in about 1800, the abbey and the associated castle ruins served as an inspiration in its damaged state to many artists who visited Bergen, Schoorl or Egmond to paint the ruins, among them Jacob van Ruisdael in 1655-60.
Susteren Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey at Susteren near Roermond, in the Dutch province of Limburg, founded in the 8th century. The former abbey church is now St. Amelberga's Basilica.
Adalbert of Egmond was a Northumbrian Anglo-Saxon missionary. He was one of Willibrord's companions in preaching the gospel in Holland and Frisia.
Hirsau Abbey, formerly known as Hirschau Abbey, was once one of the most important Benedictine abbeys of Germany. It is located in the Hirsau borough of Calw on the northern slopes of the Black Forest mountain range, in the present-day state of Baden-Württemberg. In the 11th and 12th century, the monastery was a centre of the Cluniac Reforms, implemented as "Hirsau Reforms" in the German lands by William of Hirsau. The complex was devastated during the War of the Palatine Succession in 1692 and not rebuilt. The ruins served as a quarry for a period of time.
Affligem Abbey is a Benedictine abbey in the municipality of Affligem, Flemish Brabant, Belgium, 19 km (12 mi) to the north-west of Brussels. Dedicated in 1086, it was the most important monastery in the Duchy of Brabant and therefore often called Primaria Brabantiae.
Dirk I was count of West Frisia, later known as the County of Holland. He is thought to have been in office from c. 896 to c. 928 or 939.
Dirk II or Theoderic II was a count in West Frisia, and ancestor of the counts of Holland. He was the son and heir of Dirk I and his wife Geva.
Keizersberg Abbey, also known as Mont César Abbey is a Benedictine monastery on the hill Keizersberg or Mont César in the north of the university town of Leuven, Belgium.
Egmond Castle, also called the Ruins of Egmond, is a ruined medieval castle in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is located in Egmond aan den Hoef in the municipality of Bergen and lies about 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) west of Alkmaar. The castle dates from the 11th century and is the ancestral seat of the Egmond family, whose members became sovereign Dukes of Guelders, Counts of Egmond and Princes of Gavere, Counts of Buren and Leerdam. It is a national monument of the Netherlands.
St. Andrew's Abbey, Bruges was a Benedictine abbey in Sint-Andries, Bruges, Belgium, which was destroyed in the French Revolution. Its modern successor St. Andrew's Abbey, Zevenkerken, founded in 1899–1900, is a Benedictine abbey of the Congregation of the Annunciation.
The Congregation of the Annunciation, formerly known as the Belgian Congregation, is a congregation of monasteries within the Roman Catholic Benedictine Confederation. Founded in 1920, the Congregation includes fifteen independent male monasteries spread throughout ten countries. Additionally, two female monasteries are members of the Congregation, while a further ten are affiliated with the Congregation.
Ename Abbey (1063–1795) was a Benedictine monastery in the village of Ename, now a suburb of Oudenaarde. It was founded by Adele of France, wife of Baldwin V, Count of Flanders, and was confiscated during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was then sold and dismantled.
Ten Putte Abbey is a monastery with an abbey in Gistel, roughly 8 km to the south of Ostend, in the western part of Belgium. It was built to mark the spot where, in 1070, Saint Godelina was murdered by strangulation and then thrown into a pond. Before 2007 the abbey was home to nine Benedictine nuns, who were members of the wider Subiaco Cassinese Congregation in West Flanders. Since 2007 it has been occupied by brothers and sisters of the "Mother of Peace" community.
Sint-Truiden Abbey or St Trudo's Abbey is a former Benedictine monastery in Sint-Truiden in the province of Limburg, Belgium. The abbey was founded in the 7th century and was one of the oldest and most powerful in the Low Countries. The town of Sint-Truiden grew up around it. The great Romanesque abbey church, dedicated to Saint Remaclus and Saint Quintin, was demolished in 1798, four years after the suppression of the abbey.
Male Castle, Bruges. A community of the Canonesses Regular of the Holy Sepulchre. It originated in Bruges in the 11th century, and between 1954 and 2013 was settled in Male Castle in Male, Sint-Kruis, Bruges, West Flanders, Belgium.
Aduard Abbey is a former Cistercian abbey in the village of Aduard about 8 kilometres to the north-west of Groningen in the Netherlands, founded in 1192 and dissolved in 1580.
St. Paul's Abbey, Oosterhout, also Oosterhout Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey in Oosterhout, North Brabant, the Netherlands.
St. Benedictusberg Abbey, also Mamelis Abbey, is a Benedictine monastery established in 1922 in Mamelis, a hamlet which administratively falls within Vaals, Netherlands. It is a rijksmonument.
Rijnsburg Abbey was a Benedictine nunnery in Rijnsburg, Netherlands, active between 1133 until 1574.
Dendermonde Abbey or the Abbey of Saints Peter and Paul is a Benedictine monastery in Dendermonde (Belgium), which played a role in the Liturgical Movement in Belgium.
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